1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fragmentation type projectile for antipersonnel use, and more particularly, to a fragmentation type projectile having increased stopping power and after initially hitting a target, having a decreased lethal range.
2. Related Art
The problems associated with ammunition missing, or going through the target, and hitting an innocent bystander has long been acknowledged. Various methods of resolving the problem have been approached; however, none have eliminated the inadvertent injuries and deaths.
Various forms of smooth bore shotgun projectiles, specifically buckshot and slugs, originally designed for use in hunting big, and/or dangerous game animals, are well known in the art. Although these designs are the most common types of shotgun ammunition used by the law enforcement community, their excessive destructive capabilities have always presented liability problems in law enforcement situations.
These projectiles are designed for deep penetration in game animals weighing up to one thousand pounds. With only a fractional loss of energy, they will completely penetrate a human sized target. The small percentage of energy transference to the target makes these hunting projectiles very inefficient and dangerous for use in crowded urban environments. Both slugs and larger sizes of buckshot are capable of passing through multiple residential type interior walls, and/or non-masonry exterior walls, while retaining lethal energy.
Shotgun projectiles have been designed typically to have either a single projectile, or core element (slug), or multiple projectiles, or core elements (shot or pellets). In the multiple projectile, or core element design, a shot cup or core material containment area protects the projectiles from deformation inside the shotgun barrel and upon exit from the barrel separates from the core elements prior to impact.
Typically, this shot cup or core material containment area is slit and peels back during flight, due to wind resistance. The pellets then travel in a progressively spreading pattern and impact a target as a collection of individual particles whose impact area is dependent upon the distance the pellets have traveled.
A target struck by small, less dangerous multiple individual pellets receives very little post impact trauma or blunt trauma injury, as the individual pellets displace minimal kinetic energy, which is lost rapidly during flight or upon the first impact. By way of contrast, a slug and to a lesser extend large buck shot, generally hits with enough kinetic energy and penetration to produce blunt trauma injury, over penetration of an initial target and lethality for an extended period of travel beyond. The difficult problem of achieving a balance between the safer, small and inefficient individual pellet impact and the dangerous, but effective slug impact, is not only achieved by the process and projectile of the present invention, but is achieved in a controlled manner.
The disclosed unique type of projectile will penetrate an initial barrier, create a secondary incapacitation zone of several feet or greater if so desired, and then become non-lethal down range. It is through a controlled expansion process that the present ammunition achieves a result that is different from any ammunition ever designed.